I wrote this up in response to a Slowtwitch Thread asking about the new Argon 18 E-118 Next. If you are in the market for a new speed machine check this bike out!

http://www.argon18bike.com/bikes/triathlon-tt/e-118-next.html

I
had the opportunity to test the E-118 Next prototype this spring. I
racked up a ton of miles on it and absolutely loved it! I might come off
a bit biased as I am Argon 18 Athlete, but I wouldn`t go out of my way
to post on here if I was not 100% thrilled with the bike!

I
loved what they did with the front end of the bike. The first thing I
noticed was the stiffness. Everything just feel precise when you are
riding. This is a very Canadian thing to say, however it is the best
analogy I can think of, I the E-118 makes carves like a skate blade
where as other bikes I had were more like a hockey puck. It is
confidence inspiring and I found myself feeling more in control and
taking corners in the aerobars I otherwise didn’t. The increase in
stiffness comes from the aero bridge and also the way the aerobar
spacers screw into each other. Argon 18`s are known for being
beautifully balanced bike and this bike adds to that reputation.

The
basebar of the E-118 also has less of a drop than the previous
generation and can be flipped up or down to making climbing a little
more relaxed. I also really like the shape of the bar for comfort in
different hand positions. The shape of the bar let you effortlessly
slide you hand around without distracting from your focus on the road
ahead.

I ride with my aerobars tilted up 16 degrees. It is a
position I find way more comfortable and powerful. For me it was also
validated in the wind tunnel a couple years ago. The E-118 Next allows
me to have my aerobars at a 16 degree tilt while keeping base bar flat.
This alone should be a 3-4 watt savings over my current setup. With
the high level a front end adjustability every can get there fit dialed
in completely.

Aerodynamically the bike is on par with other
its competitors. I personally tested it with my bike Shop Speed Theory
in the University of Washington wind tunnel and with me on the bike,
there was less than a watt difference between E118 Next, the P5 and the
2014 Speed Concept. This was with the aerobars and basebars flat. The
E118 Next has gotten rid of the exposed noodle and has also improved
the head tube shape to help clean up the bike.

Before riding
the E-118 I was a little hesitant about the TRP brakes. However, Argon
18 has done a great job of keeping the cable routing simple enough that
rear brake works well compared to some of the other TRP bikes I have
ridden. Adjusting the brakes is tougher than I was used to with Shimano
but I was able to learn it pretty quickly. I am not the most
mechanically inclined person, so if I can learn, than anyone could do
it. The rear brake also lacks the feedback that I like and have come to
expect with Shimano brakes, but the stopping power is still there. It
took a little while to get fully used to this feeling.

I took
the prototype to Kona for some training in April. It handled great in
the cross winds and it is one of those bike where you just feel like
every bit of power is immediately transfer to pushing you forward. The
E-118 Next was by far the easiest bike I have traveled with. The
basebar screws flat into the stem with four bolts and has a three
mini-bolt cover over top. There is no worrying or doubt about, did I
get my handlebar tilt 100% correct or is the wheel perfectly centered. I
am a little OCD usually about this, but with the E-118 Next you just
torque the bolts and you position is perfect!

For the most
part the rear triangle is the same as the older generation but I like
the addition of mounting bolts on the top tube. I will be taking
advantage of this rather than gorilla taping my PitStop. I also like
the paint Argon paint scheme. Badass matte black mixed with the
Canadian red and white!

One of the odd parts of being a
professional athlete is it’s a job that requires me to rest – I get to
watch a lot of films and have a pretty good recall for movie quotes! So as I jetted east from the continent for the
first time, I remembered Sam from Lord of Rings, saying “If I take one
more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I've ever been.”

I’d never flown across the Atlantic before, and
my exotic destination of Bahrain would take me to the Middle East for
the first time.

In 21 hours. On board three different planes.

My physiotherapist Sean Campbell even had me wear a Humidiflyer and had to give me exercises
to do to keep my muscles fresh (which also meant I looked like a transformer and got some strange stares).

The "Humidiflyer"

I don’t know what I expected Bahrain to be like,
but I thought it would be different than it is. It’s far more like the
Californian desert than I expected, with its dry air, flat roofs and
dusty plains.
And the people, well, they’re not so different
than Canadians in their hospitality and warmth. Everyone I met that I
asked for help from was kind and generous, and they genuinely wanted to
help me out.

This guy got us through security and customs fast by saying something like "These are not the Droids you are looking for"

Whenever I was out training during the week people were
waving or giving me thumbs-up; they haven’t seen triathlon before and
were truly intrigued.
The weeks leading up to this trip ticked along in
the way they usually do when I’m training. Every athlete has their ups
and downs and elite athletes are no exception. We are also, definitely, not immune to food poisoning as it turns out...

Although I’d been training for full-distance
triathlons, preparations for the half distance in Bahrain were coming
along nicely, and I was pretty confident about the race.
One thing I hadn’t prepared myself for was the
hotel buffet. It certainly beat my own cooking at home – it was unreal.
It had every type of food I could imagine. The lineup at the buffet was the who's who of triathlon! It was also pretty neat to see what they all ate in the days leading up to the big event. Rumor has it Pete Jacobs spent 4 hours at the breakfast buffet on day one!

The most incredible chocolate fountain that hung out in the hotel lobby. Tempting you to get the $27 dessert buffet!

Traveled half way across the world only to eat Richmond's finest cereal - Nature's Path cereal (my favorite!) being served at the buffet.

The race itself was incredible. Challenge Family
triathlons are known for providing an amazing experience for athletes
and the Bahrain team worked hard really hard to make it a special race.
They dotted every ‘i’ and crossed every ‘t’ from a smooth check-in
experience to erecting giant inspirational billboards along the course.

Help desk at the Bahrain Airport for anyone taking part in the race.

We stayed at the Sofitel with most of the other Pro's, friends, family members, and media folk. The hotel was unreal! The views were incredible and the staff super friendly and accommodating. Highly, highly recommended next time you find yourself stopping through Bahrain. Next December perhaps?!

View from our balcony - it was alright I guess.

The triathlon fan in me was definitely star-struck for the majority of the week. On the first day out to the outdoor pool and Pete Jacobs, Tim Reed, and Tim Berkel were swimming laps. The pool was a tight circle and ended up being perfect for laps.

The Aussie's getting the work done in the hotel pool.

Selfie with Pete Jacobs and Tim Don...

There was no doubt in anyone’s mind about the
Challenge Family’s signature colour, red – and our hosts pretty much
painted everything in the town! Even the course itself included a unique
feature: an F1 racetrack!
As fast as I like to think I am, I wasn’t quite
at F1 speeds – I felt more like I was in a game of real-life Mario Kart
than anything – but it was a dream-come-true.

The run course took us in a wildlife reserve that
had ostriches running around. I was looking forward to that experience,
too, until I saw some in the corner of my eye. Now I always run pretty
hard, but I certainly got a little extra speed when they caught me in
their field of vision. Just liek Kevin Hart...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXNF60HX8iw

And I’d certainly never raced alongside a prince
before! Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa is one incredible guy. He’s
actually the reason the race – and even the sport – came to Bahrain.
You can’t help but have respect for a prince
who’s not only racing, but investing in triathlon, and youth and sport
development in his country. The indoor 50m pool alone is super impressive! The influence he’s had on his people
inspires me.

The Prince and his entourage rolling into athlete registration

I think one of my responsibilities as an elite
athlete is to encourage new people into the sport and celebrate the
achievement of all athletes who sign up for races – young, old, fast or
getting faster.
The day before my race I met one of the young
people the prince has inspired. I went down to the kids’ race to
volunteer and cheer them on, and met a 16-year-old Bahraini named
Abdulla.
“Abs” is new to triathlon, from swimming. When I
was talking to him, I realized he’s been having the same experience I
used to have watching full-distance triathlon in Penticton when growing
up. And was he ever lapping up the event, just like I did!
He loved meeting all the other athletes, sharing
about what he’s been learning and all of his hopes and dreams for his
triathlon career. After the race I learned he came out of the water in
second place in the relay category – so I’ll be keeping a close eye on
his development in the coming years!

Handing out medals at the Kids Junior Race. Always so much fun!

Abs and I at the awards banquet.

Whenever I read articles like this, I expect to
hear the athlete’s strategy and am always inspired to read how closely
to plan it went. But really, my strategy was quite simply just to go
hard, get the most out of myself and to Get Ugly at the end. I heard Jan Frodeno said that I looked like I had been pushing the hardest when I was running down the finish chute and that is exactly the look I'm going for!

T1 Race morning

I was happy with my swim (although an
elbow to the eye courtesy of Tim Berkel wasn’t one of my planned tactics!). I went a little
harder than I normally would on the bike, but I wanted to take some
chances and see what could happen.
I started to notice the Middle East heat on the
run, but I figured everyone else was suffering too. I picked off as
many athletes ahead of me as I could, but couldn’t quite get myself into
sixth place.
But I was stoked to finish in seventh in such an
amazing field. I found myself right in the middle of outstanding athletes and
triathlon legends.
We also got incredible Challenge Bahrain transition backpacks as well as
finisher jackets that looked like something you would find at MEC.
Super light-weight, packable and really warm.
Probably one of the cooler parts of the race was hanging out in the doping control tent post race with all of the pro's (male and female) and blurting out to Tim Don that my girlfriend Sophia has told me that his hair should be my hair-spiration...

The party didn't stop in the doping control tent either - Challenge Bahrain put on an unreal awards ceremony followed by the wildest triathlon after-party I've ever been to. Well, lets face it, the only after-party I've ever been to. Akon, Dire Straits, and Canada's own Massari were performing live. Yes, live. For about 200 people. Take what you're imagining this concert to be right now, and multiply it by 10 and you've got it nailed. There was even a dancing robot and the best break-dancer group I've ever seen.

Akon. Found myself thinking "Oh right, he sung that song too!" all night long.

I've been home now for 24 hours and I still can't believe what an amazing experience I had over there. Challenge really knows how to treat their athlete's with respect and dignity and are doing great things for the sport of Triathlon across the world and especially in the Middle East.

Still figuring out my race plans for 2015 but you can be sure that it's going to include a few more of these races - this is one to put on your bucket list!

Huge shout out and thanks to everyone who was able to make this trip (and this season) such a success including Mike Brown (Great White North & Challenge Penticton Owner/RD) and Darren Hailes who traveled with me from Canada and were under the watch of the palace with me...we think it had something to do with 3 guys sharing a hotel room together. Everyone at Challenge Bahrain and Challenge Family for all of their hard work getting the race organized and all of us pro's organized. All of my sponsors, supporters, family and friends. And of course, my best friend Sophia who does more for me and my career then anyone could ever imagine!

I have thrilled to have been asked to be an online contributor for Triathlon Magazine Canada. I have linked my first three articles below. From now on I'll be contributing an article every week and watch out for the occasional work in the written magazine.

This weekend Sophia and I doubled up on running races competing in both the TriPower Harvest Run and the BMO Okanagan Half Marathon. With two races on consecutive days, it goes without saying that we earned our Thanksgiving Dinner!

First up was the Harvest Run.

The Harvest run is a 5.5k and 3k cross country race at Covert Farms. Covert farms is the perfect venue for a cross country race. The course went through vineyards, up and down hills, on dirt roads and up into some fun single track trails. Just an awesome spot to run! The race is a fundraiser for the the kids group that I coach with TriPower, so I was thrilled to be a part of it! This also meant my arch rival Keagan would be racing. Keagan is a 12 year who I coach at TriPower. He is super fast and like all of the TriPower kids, has a great attitude and passion for running, triathlon and hard work! He out kicked me at the Challenge Penticton Fun Run (photo of us below) some say I didn't have the Eye of Tiger that day ;). This time around he threw down some WWF trash talk at the start line and it was on. I was able to finish ahead of him and win the race but it is only a matter of time, probably 5 or 6 years, that he'll be taking me down for real! That is what the Harvest Run is all about. Inspiring the younger athletes so they can one day kick my ass! That and winning a great bottle of Covert Farms wine for Sophia!

I have done the Half Marathon portion of this race 3 times before and it is the perfect way to kick off Thanksgiving Sunday. You get a great run in the morning and can then chill out all afternoon and hit Turkey dinner hard like your name is Joey Chestnut! Unless you are a triathlete, then you also fit in an afternoon ride. Between the Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k the event had 2672 people out running and getting ugly on Sunday. The staggered start and loops of the course work, I think I crossed paths or ran past all of them! This is always awesome as it leads to people cheering and giving words of encouragement to each other. It keeps you motivating and having a blast! It was great to be able to win the race for the fourth time. Sophia picked up a PB so she was pumped!Link to Post Race Newspaper Article

I just want to say a quick thank you to my cheer team for getting me to the finish line in second place at Ironman Whistler on the weekend! Thanks to everyone out on the course that told me to "Get Ugly Out There!!!" Thanks to my Aunt Linda and Uncle Ron for putting me up for the weekend!

Ironman 70.3 Texas race was a complete disaster for me. I am pretty disappointed in myself for making a bunch of stupid decisions. Having said that, disasters and stupid decisions make for incredible learning experiences. So in a strange way, I am happy to have gotten beat down in Galveston!

I had a great swim and felt super cruisy in the second pack of guys. I got on the bike and felt great. Not just great but that invincible, nothing can stop me today, kind of great. The kind of great that most people feel in a triathlon before they annihilate themselves early on the bike. And that is exactly what I proceeded to do. I got caught up in the stupid ride with packs game. The packs game NEVER works for me, yet for some reason I decided to play it on that day. The appeal of catching on an the front and using them for pacing and then smoking the run for the win seemed like an awesome plan. But if it was so awesome, everyone would have done it. I rode way to hard to try and catch the Brent McMahon, at the time it did not occur to me that he might be doing the same so that nobody caught up to him. The packs game never works for me because it involves throwing down big surges, keeping an eye on the other guys, not keeping the most aero position and takes me out of my mindset. I also got caught up in the game and was looking for guys coming from behind.

I blew through the second aid station, and didn’t take a bottle. I have no reason for that. My thought process went something like this “I’ll skip this aid station, that’s a bad idea” but at 54+km/h by the time I thought “That’s a bad idea” it was too late. Normally I have a backup bottle, in case something happens (I.e. dropped bottle, aid station not ready, stupid decisions) however for this race I decided to use my back up bottle to hold my pit stop. At the time it seemed so genius. My Argon 18 looked pretty friggin sexy so why ruin that by Gorilla Taping pit stop on the frame? Stupid in hindsight.

I could tell the watts were slipping a touch and getting harder for me as we approached the turnaround. It got worse from there as we headed back into wind. I was really wishing I had that bottle of Perform and it felt like forever until the next aid station. I went from half Ironman pace to Ironman pace to long ride pace pretty quick. The deadly combo of poor nutrition and pacing had started to blow me to pieces. To make matters worse I had changed my saddle position a bit last week as I hadn't quite felt comfortable. My power had been slipping so I attributed that to my seat position, not the obvious fact that I was at the end of a hard training block. Stupid on my part! My sit bones were bothering me around 30-35 miles and Killing me at around 45 miles. It was something to do with my position on my saddle that made me struggle on the run.

So here I was, went from feeling like a million bucks to struggling to turn the pedals over. I started thinking about the run, the stupid moves I had made and was trying to regain my composure when. I thought this can’t get any worse and then BAM!! It can always get worse. I swerved to miss a pothole and hit another. Another crash. Luckily this one was at a much slower speed. I was pretty banged up and cut up and completely demoralized. I was 500m from T2 and got back on my bike and rode in to T2.

I had to options at this point. Option A: drop out and go feel sorry for myself in my hotel room. Option B: Get out there and get it done even if I had to walk. I decided to get out and there get it done. I know what it means for a lot of people just to finish, so if I was physically able to it, I was going to get it done. Like Asics’ new motto that is written on my duffel bag and sweat pants “Stop at Never”. Klean Athlete had helped me get down to the race so I wanted to make sure I did whatever I could to finish. I ended up getting this AWESOME company a whole lot of exposure because I was out there for a REALLY long time! I had to walk the first mile (which took a lot longer than I thought!). Things finally loosened up and I was able to jog the next 11 until my hip flexor started to tighten up and I walked the last mile to the finish.

What causes dumb mistakes? Confidence. Or lack there of. When your confidence slips you make bad decisions. My confidence slipped heading into the race. It wasn’t confident in what I could do. Seven months is a long time between races. And when six of those seven months are spent injured, you really start to question your abilities. I felt like I need an extra something to take the win and beat Brent McMahon. My focus turned away from the execution of my race to tactics and things that were beyond on my control. This is known a classic “Choke”.

The goal of the race was to enhance my preparation for Ironman Texas. So mission accomplished. I definitely learned some good lessons.

So what have I learned form the race.

1.) Pace yourself. Go your own, even pace.

2.) Stick to a plan that works for you. For me it’s to ride alone.

3.) Accept that someone might be able to get to the finish line before you,. The only thing you can do about that is get to the finish line faster.

4.) Other people will be going too hard, don’t worry about it.

5.) It’s okay to pass last years champion just as long as you are going your pace and not riding like a maniac.

6.) Physically write out your nutrition plan and stick to it.

7.) Always have a backup bottle.

8.) Don’t change your position 2 weeks out from a race.

9.) Respect the distance and the course. It’s the course, not your competitors, that will beat you down.

10.) Don’t crash.

Aside from the race, it was great to get to go down to Texas to meet the team from Klean Athlete. If you haven’t heard about this company, look into them now. They make awesome nutrition products (the ProBiotics are my favourite) that are specifically designed for athletes. I’ve noticed my time spent in recovery mode post-race is drastically decreased (assuming there hasn’t been a crash involved), and any GI issues I have ever experienced, stopped after taking their product.
Tim Monk (the VP of Sales and Marketing at Klean Athlete and passionate triathlete) even spent the day with me on the Monday after the race and took me out on the Ironman Texas course making sure to point out every pothole along the way.

One race, one win. Can’t complain about that!
The UBC triathlon was the 3rd triathlon I ever did back in
2006. Looking back at the results it was quite the solid field with
Trevor Wurtele, Andrew Russell and Adam O’Meara. I remember thinking that
Trevor (though I only knew him as the guy in the white and black shirt) must
have cut the course because he came out of nowhere on the swim to be right
behind me on the bike. http://www.winningtime.ca/results_ubc_031106/olymaleoall.txt

Racing, how I missed you! Mainly, how I missed
Getting Ugly Out There on the run! It has been a long road back from my
crash at Challenge Penticton. The impact on my hip caused problems in my
sesamoid bone and kept me from racing until this past weekend. It was
awesome to get back on a start line and go through the emotions. I know,
I changed the saying, ‘emotions’ just seem so much more fitting in this
situation.

Just last week the course looked like
this.

The roads cleared up over the last couple of days and sun
was astonishingly brilliant for race day. I am not one for lame
poetic sentences, but a week ago we thought it was going to snow race day, and
it turned out to be shirts-off weather! Only in Vancouver…

Shirts Off!

The swim is done in a 50-meter pool. Normally I
hate pool swims because I can NOT count laps. 300 meters is my limit; I
don’t swim 400’s, I swim 400’s-ish. But don’t think I have gone soft on you, I
always err on the side of too much. So if I had to count a 1500…. no
chance. Thankfully UBC has solved this problem by having swimmers
go up and down each lane for the 8 lanes of the pool. You then get out
after the 8th lane, run (it’s a race, there’s no way I’m going to
follow pool rules and walk) back to the beginning and swim 7 more
lanes. To change lanes you do the always-sketchy flip turn under
the lane rope. Negative side effects include: flip turning the wrong way,
one-foot push offs, grating your head on the lane rope, or heading back into
oncoming traffic. All of which make things more fun, all of which I
manage to do every time I’ve raced at UBC.

The start of the swim is a time trial start; each person
10 seconds apart. I swam hard to catch the one guy ahead of me. He had written
down 18 minutes for his 1500 time so I had hoped to draft off him to a good
time. Although he looked like the kind of ex-swimmer that spent more time
working on technique then anything else. Needless to say, he started fading
HARD. That was when I decided to make the move to pass him and when “The Claw”
came out!

The CLAW! Photo: Björn Ossenbrink

This is my new mission – to get rid of my
claw. No matter how hard I try I always do it. I have
purchased two beefy aluminum rulers and some duct tape to splint my forearms to
practice. I am not kidding. Duct tape fixes anything and everything right?

Once you’ve finished your laps, you jump out of the pool
and run outside to T1. The bike leg has a lot of turns and the roads were
pretty slick from the torrential downpour we experienced on Saturday. I
took the corners fairly conservative as I was under strict “Don’t crash this
time” instructions from my girlfriend. I also made sure to give plenty of
room as I lapped people, especially to the guy with the Alexander Gustafson
like Bad Boy shorts. I figured if we got tangled up he probably kick my
ass as well.

With the time trial start you can’t tell exactly where
people are in the race so you just keep pushing hard right until the end. Once
I got out onto the run course, it took me a bit longer to settle into my race
pace then usual but managed to get there within a few kms. This was quickly
disrupted when I was trying to pass someone and managed to loose my balance and
fall (seriously, what is wrong with me?!). I quickly surveyed the damage, shook
it off, and kept going. Managed to loose some skin from both knees but luckily
nothing serious. 33 minutes later I crossed the finish line thinking “Oh right,
so that’s what it feels like!” The running hard and suffering reminded me of
what makes this sport so awesome.

Nathan, Nathan and I

Congrats to my fellow Okanagan athletes for kicking ass
as well. Nathan Champness came 2nd, Chris Young 4th, Jen
Annett won the womens and Robbie Smith with a comeback appearance won the Sprint
Distance.

It’s great to be back to racing and I am excited about
the 2014 season!

Photo: Björn Ossenbrink

On the sponsorship side of things, at the end of 2013 I
said goodbye to Orbea and welcomed Argon-18 to my team. I am so excited to be
working with the guys (and gals) from Quebec! Thanks to Jonathon Caron, my
French-Canadian interpretation skills I gained from him will finally be put to
good use! I’ve already spent a good amount of time with the Argon-18 team so
look out for more info from that! And as always, I have an amazing team
of Asics, Shimano/Pro, Powerbar, Ryder’s, Klean Athlete, Champion Systems, Swagman Racks, and
Kicker Endurance on board for another year of good times and fast times!

Photo: Björn Ossenbrink

Lastly, I want to say a big thank you my physiotherapist
Sean Campbell from Campbell Health for put me back together after the
crash. Not only have we put the pieces back together, but we have made
some improvements as well!

Next up is the St. Patricks Day 5k at Stanley Park. Race
starts at 9:00am, party starts at 9:15am!

I wrote up an article for the Do More Community. All of these have made a huge impact on my triathlon career and many of them in other areas of my life. I am sure they will help you reach your goals as well!

A lot has happened since Challenge Penticton! My Girlfriend Sophia has just finished up her first semester of Physiotherapy at UBC and we settle into big city living here in Vancouver. So far the swimming has been awesome and taking advantage of UBC's 50m pool and a great swim squad http://www.vancouvermastersswimclub.com/. I have picked up a Computrainer and am really enjoy laying down some solid sets while at the same time learning a ton watching triathlon Youtube videos!

I have also started working weekends at Speed Theory. Speed Theory is similar to the The Bike Barn in that it is a great shop run by awesome people, but definitely different in the amount of comfort bikes, handlebar streamers and bucket helmets I have sold. I could probably do a great blogpost on the differences in the future...

It's been a crazy week since Challenge Penticton, a week that was made even more crazier by my injuries from the crash and a move to Vancouver. I haven't had a chance to write up a good race report yet however I wanted to post a video that Challenge Penticton made of my race day experience. It was awesome to have my Dad and also my coach Kevin Cutjar in the video. I post a couple more videos one from the race and one from a talk I gave to the TriPower kids. I have healed up ell and should get a real race report typed up in the next couple of days.

Thanks to hanks to Orbea, Orca, Shimano, Pro, Powerbar,The Bike Barn, Kevin Cutjar,
Ryders Eyewear, Asics, and everyone who helped make my childhood dream a reality! I look forward to coming back to defend my title in 2014!

The
Subaru Western Triathlon Series is excited to announce the TSN air
dates of the inaugural Subaru Saskatoon Triathlon. The race features a
fierce battle between Canada’s top triathletes, “The Subaru Chase”,
where the women are given a head start against the men – first one to
the line, man or woman, is the Champion! This “Winner Take All” battle
is set against the beautiful backdrop of the Saskatchewan countryside
and Saskatoon's downtown River Valley. The race is featured in a 60
minute production on TSN, Canada’s Sports Leader, and airs on the
following dates:

All times PST*:

TSNSaturday, August 3rd, 10:30amMonday, August 5th, 1:00pmWednesday, August 7th, 9:00pm